Virgo's Vice (18 page)

Chapter 32

The guys dig graves as soon as it gets light, and bury Andy and Kelli beside Eve. Everyone is freaked out. It’s so surreal. Nobody talks much. So many questions hang in the air.

Maria has her bible again, and says a few words about them and then she reads the twenty-third psalm again. I don’t know why she uses her bible because she knows the words. It does seem fitting, kind of, because what happened to them was the work of the devil.

“I’m gonna go wash in that pool,” Mark announces. “I have soap if anyone wants to come along.”

Everyone does, except for me and the others who already bathed. I want to be here when the Old Man arrives. Or should I say
if
he comes at all?

“I’m gonna try to get there,” Rodriguez says. He’s fashioned himself a kind of crutch with a thin branch from a tree.

“I’ll walk with you,” Mark says.

I watch them leave, Trip in the front, then the girls, followed by Rodriguez and Mark. I glance at Billy.

“What?” he says.

“I was just wondering. Do you think they’ll all come back?”

Billy sighs. Jared who’s standing on the other side of him says, “We know one thing: it ain’t one of us. And I don’t see how he, or it, overpowered Andy and Kelli like that. Andy was no weakling.”

“Yeah, but he was high on something. One blow and he was down. He was probably already dead when they cut his throat. Kelli would have been easy after that.” Stretch sighs and folds his arms.

“So who is it?” Jared asks. “Some crazy psycho running around and living in the bush? A monster? What would the monster look like? Maybe like a Yeti, only an African Yeti that doesn’t live in the snow.”

“Nah,” Billy counters. “If a monster came into camp, Jake here would have barked the night Eve died. Even if it was a wild animal. Trip says leopards put their kill in trees, but he would have barked.”

“So you think one of us did it?” Stretch shuffles his feet. “Correction. One of them.”

“I don’t know what to think, dude. Nothing makes sense to me.” Billy sighs and scratches his chin. “One thing’s for sure, though. The game’s over. Old Man Dockery will have to call it off after this.”

“It’s Trip,” I say.

“Huh?” Stretch says. “What do you mean?”

“He killed them.”

“Why do you think that? I mean, that dude has been helping us. Why would he kill us? Now nobody will win the million dollars. He must have wanted it just as much as all of us or he wouldn’t have entered. It doesn’t make sense.”

“He’s crazy,” I say. “I know him from before. And think about it. He was on watch the night Eve died. He was the one who went back to get Andy and Kelli. He’s not normal and he doesn’t think logically. He’s a monster. Maybe he’s the monster that scared all the locals to move out of the area. He says he’s been living in Africa for a while.”

“And he’s the one who told us leopards put their prey in trees. If it wasn’t Trip, who else could have done it?” Billy asks.

I suddenly realize what a relief it is to know Billy isn’t the killer. I know so little about him.

“Rodriguez is also in the clear, and Maria,” Jared says. “How about Lela? She’s strong.”

“She said some crazy things to me last night,” I add. “Things like she was held captive in a camp in Iraq and soldiers from ISIS took her and made her a prisoner.”

Jared and Stretch laugh.

“It could be true,” Billy says. “She showed Lexie some scars on her boobs that she said were from being tortured.”

“For real?” Jared says. “She showed you her . . . her tits?”

I nod. “The scars are scary. Cigarette burns.” I wince at the thought of the pain she must have had to endure.

“So maybe that made her mentally ill,” Stretch suggested. “Maybe she’s nuts, one beer short of a six-pack, and Andy and Kelli did something or said something that pushed her over the edge.”

“What about Faith?” Billy says.

We all laugh.

“I mean it.” Billy’s mouth flattens. “She’s tall and probably stronger than she appears.”

“She was mad at them yesterday morning.”

“Not mad enough to kill,” Stretch says.

We laugh again.

“Sam is more likely to have killed them than Faith,” I say.

“Except Faith did something weird to the skeleton they found. Like, she stroked it and chanted something. That’s the only way I can describe it. Lexie and me saw it on video on Mark’s camera. It freaked me out, man.” Billy drapes his arm around me and kisses my ear.

It tickles in a nice kind of way. I duck and lift my shoulders.

Stretch grunts and we’re all quiet for a few seconds. I can tell he’s not convinced about Trip.

“What’s that?” I say. “Listen?”

Everyone stops talking. The sound is getting closer.

“It’s an airplane,” I yell and shake Billy’s arm. “It’s him. The Old Man.”

The engine noise gets louder and then we see it. It swoops down low over us and we wave our arms and yell.

“Here. We’re all here.”

The aircraft keeps going and disappears from view over a ridge.

“Must be going down to the airfield,” Billy says. “Come on.”

We all take off at a run toward where the aircraft disappeared. Elation swamps my every pore. “Thank you, God.” I whisper to myself. Then I shout, “Thank you, thank you.”

The airplane hasn’t landed. It rises and comes into view again and starts to circle round. Maybe there’s a problem with the airfield.

“What’s he doing?” Stretch shades his eyes with his hand and stares up at the aircraft.

“He’s leaving,” Jared says.

I watch in disbelief as the aircraft dips its wings in what I understand is an acknowledgment that he’s seen us, and then it heads back the way it came.

“No,” I hear myself shout, and I run after it for a few yards before I turn and stare at the others. Their faces show disappointment and misunderstanding. I know mine probably projects the exact emotions.

We all stare at it with our mouths open until it disappears from view.

Chapter 33

“Son of a bitch is gone.” Stretch shakes his fist in the air.

“Fucking asshole!” Jared says.

“He can’t be leaving,” I hear myself whine. “We need him here. He knows we fucking need him. He’ll come back.”

“Is he playing some kind of dumb game with us?” Billy sounds pissed.

“No. He said he would be here.” I stroke Jake on his head. “He would never leave Jake for so long. Something’s wrong.”

“What?” Jared says with a shrug. “Nothing’s wrong. He’s testing us. It’s all part of the fucking game.”

“Did anyone manage to see inside when he dipped his wings?” Billy asks.

Everyone stares at him blankly.

“I did. There was only one person in the airplane. I’ll swear on the bible there was only one—the pilot.” He turns his gaze to me. “Does Old Man Dockery have a pilot’s license?”

I shake my head slowly, too angry to talk. When I get a hold of that old man I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind. I don’t care if he’s my boss.

“Fuck it!” Billy aims a vicious kick at a rock. He follows it, picks it up, and hurls it into the air in the direction the airplane took.

We start trudging back to camp. I’m so deflated. I’ve known something’s wrong the entire time and now I know I’m right.

“We’re gonna need some food,” Stretch says. “I’d give anything for a sandwich right now.”

“Can’t go fishing if they’re all swimming in the fishing hole,” Billy says. “I reckon I’ll take a look at Rodriguez’ traps and see if I can figure out why they’re not working.” He drapes an arm around my shoulder and nuzzles my ear.

I giggle. “That tickles. Stop.”

“It tickles nice though, don’t it? I made you laugh, anyhow.”

He’s right. It is good, and I smile to myself when I think of how he always does seem to manage to make me feel better when I’m down.

I’m still fuming though. We all are.

Back in camp, we all drink water, and then Jared and Billy go to check out the bird traps. Stretch busies himself gathering firewood while I fire up my camera and set it up in front of me to film myself. I stare into it.

“This is the fifth day we’ve been here. We heard an airplane this morning and we were sure it was the Old Man—Allan Dockery that is. Where is he? I can’t believe he’s deserted us like this. And with people dying, I just want out, and I’m not alone. I think I speak for everyone here. If he’d left us with a sat phone like he said he would, at least we would be able to call for help.”

I get up, turn off the camera, and then blow out air.

Jake pushes his nose under my hand and whines. I know he’s saying something like, “Cheer up, Lexie. It’s not that bad.” His fur is soft and warm and he makes me feel a little better. I kiss him on his head. “You and Billy are such blessings for me. I don’t know where I would get the strength from if either of you weren’t here.”

Jake stares at me with his big brown eyes and wags his tail like he understands. I put my arms around him and hug him. Tears spring from my eyes. I don’t care if Stretch hears me. I bury my face in Jake’s soft neck and sob.

A hand rests on my back, and Stretch sits beside me on the log. “Hey, Lexie. It’s okay.”

I swipe my hand over my face and blink a few times and sniff.

“I’m sorry,” I say at last, holding his gaze. His brow is wrinkled and he looks worried. “It’s just . . .”

“I know. Everything is screwy. I also wish I knew what Old Man Dockery is thinking. The only reason I’m here is because I could use the million dollars. My son has cancer and we can’t afford all the medical fees. Yeah, I made a lot of money when I played basketball, but fortunes go easier than you would think, and I made some dumb investments. My health insurance doesn’t cover half of what has to be done.” His voice breaks and he glances down at his huge hands, which are clasped together.

“Oh, Stretch, I’m so sorry,” I sniff, and I really, really mean it. It must be horrible.

“We’ll find another way, but I wish I could get away from this hellhole so I can start searching. You know what I’m saying? There ain’t gonna be any prizes now with those people lying dead.” He points with his chin in the direction of the gravesites.

I realize I have nothing to gripe about when I compare it with his life, and I’m almost ashamed. “I shouldn’t have let myself go like that.”

He gives me an encouraging smile. “It’s okay. I understand how frustrating it must be for you. We all feel the same way.”

Billy and Jared come mooching around from the long grass, where Rodriguez has set his bird traps made from dental floss.

“Did you . . .?” I ask when we hear a loud squawking and cackling, and the two of them run back to the area they’ve just come from, with Jake on their heels.

“Yeah,” I hear Jared yelling, and Jake is barking.

I jump up and rush in their direction, vaguely aware of Stretch galloping behind me.

“What is it?” I yell, and then I see Billy holding a guinea hen up by its feet. It’s still making a racket. He turns away so I can’t see what he’s doing and when he turns back, the bird’s head is off and blood is gushing from its neck.

“Let’s all move back to the fire. We may catch another one.” Billy sits on a log and starts plucking the feathers out.

“We are gonna feast tonight,” Jared says. “Rodriguez didn’t have the traps set up right, and we have corn now. Billy kept some last night.”

Sure enough, it’s only about twenty minutes later when we hear more squawking.

At the same time I see Lela’s head over the long grass.

I’m holding my breath until she’s close enough for me to see her face. It’s calm. Everyone must be okay. I blow out air.

“Wow, it’s so good to be clean,” she says as she flops down in front of the fire. “What you got?” She peers at the plucked bird in Billy’s hand. She smells of soap and the dirt stains have gone from her face.

“Guinea hen. Do you have the knife?”

Jared comes back carrying another bird. “We’re gonna feast tonight,” he chants again.

“We picked some mushrooms,” Trip says. “That’s about all we have to go with the birds.”

“Aren’t wild mushrooms poisonous?” I say.

“Some. You have to know what you’re doing.” Trip drops the black bag on the ground.

“I asked him the same question,” Sam says. “He says he knows which ones are good. I’m not eating a mushroom until I see Trip eat it first,” she adds.

Faith goes into the shelter and comes out fresh and clean. She’s combed her hair again and put it up and her clothes still haven’t gotten wrinkled. “You should have come along,” she says.

I almost glance behind me, but then I realize she’s talking to me.

Rodriguez finally makes it back into camp, and Billy holds up two birds. “We tweaked the traps a little and they worked,” he said. “That and the corn.”

“Did anyone hear the airplane?” Everyone stops talking and stares at me. “It flew over us in camp, and then it went down to the airfield.” I point. “We all ran down there and it wasn’t Old . . . Old Man Dockery.”

Mark stares at me. “You mean, an airplane flew over the airfield but didn’t land?”

I sigh. “Yeah. I’m still bummed. I was so sure it would be him.”

“I can’t believe we didn’t hear it. So it just flew away again?”

“He waggled his wings,” Stretch said. “There was only one person inside it. And then he left.”

“How come you didn’t hear it?” I say.

Mark shakes his head. “Beats me. Maybe he didn’t come over us, or we were too close to the waterfall and it drowned out the sound of its engine. It must have been someone the Old Man sent ahead. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Yeah. He did a pass over the bush landing strip out that way.” Billy points. “He must have been checking to see it was still okay.”

“I wish I could be as confident as you sound,” I say.

That night, Billy helps Faith rig up a pole above the fire and he threads the two guinea hens onto it. The smell makes my mouth water. Faith cooks the wild mushrooms in one of the pots.

We make Trip eat the mushrooms first and wait a while before we feast.

“So,” Mark says, licking his fingers, “Old Man Dockery will surely be here tomorrow and we’ll be able to go home. I’m sorry none of you can get the million dollars, but the thought of home feels pretty great right now.”